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Action Committee for Renewal

Published 11th March, 2013

The Action Committee for Renewal or CAR was founded out of the Front of Associations for Renewal in early 1991 by Yawovi Agboyibo.

The party boycotted the first presidential election in which it could have stood in 1993 but participated in the 1994 legislative election. The result left the party in first place with 36 of the 81 seats, just one seat ahead of the incumbent Rally of the Togolese People (RPT). A subsequent Supreme Court decision reduced the number of seats to 34 and the party boycotted the National Assembly. Although they tried to form a government with the Togolese Union for Democracy (UTD) with CAR leader Yawovi Agboyibo as the prime ministerial candidate President Gnassingbé Eyadéma refused to endorse this and instead appointed the UTD leader as prime minister. The two parties split over the political manoeuvring and the CAR went into opposition.

The Action Committee for Renewal went on to boycott the 1999 and 2002 general elections although Yawovi Agboyibo did stand as their presidential candidate in 1998 and 2003.

In September 2009 Yawovi Agboyibo was made Prime Minister as the head of a national unity government in readiness for parliamentary elections. The CAR fought those elections in October 2007 and won four of the 81 seats in the National Assembly.